The Department of Export Agriculture under the Ministry of Primary Industries plans to expedite measures to enhance the production and promotion of export crops by increasing the number of export crop cultivation projects in the Matara district.
According to project officials, the project will mainly focus on cultivation of cinnamon, cardamom, cocoa, coffee, pepper, nutmeg, citronella, vanilla, cloves, betel and areca.
“Out of all these crops, cinnamon brings the highest income to the country.
It is currently successfully cultivated in the Southern region covering Galle, Matara and Hambantota districts.
Then comes Kalutara, Kegalle, Ratnapura, Kurunegala, Kandy, Matale and Badulla districts. Through novel crop cultivation and expansion projects, the department is also focusing its attention to bring more hectares of land under these cultivations in the near future,” an official said.
Fresh cultivation strategies, methodologies and agricultural policies will also be introduced to growers to facilitate the capacity of quality production and promotion of these crop cultivation.
High-quality planting materials, proper cultivation instructions and novel technology would also be made available to farmers free by the Export Agriculture Department, according to the officials.
The enhancement of the export crop cultivation activities, their production volume and bringing more foreign exchange to country’s coffers would be the main aim of all the endeavours, officials said.